What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.

Christopher Hitchens (1949 - 2011) was an Anglo-American author and journalist. His books made him a prominent public intellectual and a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He was a columnist and literary critic at Vanity Fair, Slate, The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry and a variety of other media outlets. He was named one of the world's "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" by Foreign Policy and Britain's Prospect.

Does it matter if it's true or not on a day like this, April 1? Anyhow, it's a fun announcement.

"Megadeth frontman and founding member Dave Mustaine has announced that he will appearing on Fox News on April 15th, to engage in a debate with author, journalist and outspoken atheist, Christopher Hitchens. Mustaine, who is very outspoken about his Christian beliefs, claims that Hitchens is no more than a bully and his criticism of Christianity is “cruel” and “mean.”

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Hello fellow Hitch fans, I'm the person who wrote this article for MetalUnderground.com and if I may, I'd like to explain the background and the reason for this article. Every year on April 1st, we at MetalUnderground.com post fake stories, starting off believable and becoming more ridiculous as time goes on. For those who aren't aware, Dave Mustaine, the frontman of Megadeth, is an outspoken Christian and mentions his beliefs at every given opportunity, his most recent claim was that it was a divine miracle that he was able to pass a kidney stone and perform the grand total of six songs. With this in mind, I thought it would be interesting and somewhat humourous if Mustaine were to actually engage in a debate with an atheist, and in my opinion, there is no greater spokesman for the non-believer than Hitchens, which is why I mentioned him.

If you look closely, the tongue in cheek nature of the article can be found fairly easily. Such "quotes" as "Don't believe everything you read," followed immediately by "it says in the bible," is an example of this as is the reference to Bill O' Reilly's recent claim about the tides being proof of God. Also, if you click on the word "GOD" in the article, it brings you to the Wikipedia entry on U2 vocalist, Bono.

However, I feel I do owe an apology, as I was unaware Christopher Hitchens had been forced to cancel some appearances due to his health. I thought of Hitchens as a writer and debater before a cancer patient, as his skills in these fields are some of the most impressive I have ever seen, and thus I wanted to introduce the man to readers of the site, who perhaps weren't familiar with his work, which is also why I included a link to the Amazon page for Hitch-22. I realise now however, that some of you feel this was in bad taste, and so to those people, I sincerly apologise for any offense caused. It was meant as a joke and promotion for Mr. Hitchens, as well as Megadeth to a lesser extent and upsetting people was not, nor has it ever been, my intention.

Thank you for your time. Let's hope that Hitch begins to get well soon!

Christopher Hitchens has responded by saying that this debate may well be one of the more interesting of his long and illustrious career, stating:

"In my time as a writer and guest speaker, I have debated with Rabbis, Imams, priests of many denominations and most recently, former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, but I have yet to cross swords over religious matters with a heavy metal musician. This will certainly be an entertaining meeting, though I highly doubt it’ll be a particularly challenging one.

Even if it weren't April 1: Obvious fake; anyone who has read a single thing by Hitch knows 3 words into that quote that it's not him

Of course it is fake, although we shouldn't be appaled. I think Hitch does get the joke.

If Hitchens's condition is not as bad as we fear I would hope for him to debate again but with a fresh voice on the other end of stage. It is like in boxing or MMA, rematches can be interesting but only once. He has debated D´souza a couple of times in a time span not too long, and has done it earlier also I think. I hope to see him debate, if he is able to, somebody whom he has not faced before, hopefully a big name that will draw attention. Not an uneducated musician.... But somebody who is actually a challenge.

def a hoax although many have been fooled! mustaine is the epitome of shallow religious loon, I listened to him on the alex jones show one time... Freakin' religious nutters with their conspiracy theories! Felt sorry for him.

The frontman from Megadeath??? Apparantly in the same hour, Paris Hilton will be debating the nature of the cosmos with Stephen Hawking and whether or not her astrological sign is "sooooo hot" or "totally gross".

Wow. This is absolutely incredible. Two of my favorite men in the world going at it. However, i never knew Mustaine was so religious. He just lost a few points with me, and to think he'll stand up to Christopher Hitchens? This is huge, and i will watch it and hope Mustaine gets crushed......